Resistance in the Dutch Indies a Film About a Lost Struggle

Resistance in the Dutch Indies a film about a lost struggle

A documentary by Peter Hoogendijk Dammas Films [email protected] +31 – 6 28 90 10 29 DVD available in Dutch and English

Summary

Resistance in the Dutch Indies is a feature documentary that tells the unknown story of the Eurasian people who tried to resist the Japanese forces in Indonesia during WW II. Their struggle was hopeless, due to the strength and determination of the Japanese military police, the Kempeitai. But also because of the role of the Indonesian people, and especially the Indonesian police forces. These Indonesian police organisations were originally founded by the Dutch colonials to oppose domestic communist and nationalist movements. Especially the PID (Police Information Service) was omnipresent in pre-war Indonesia. So. When the Japanese invaded the archipelago, they immediately took over the PID. And right from the start they mastered a superb network of local agents and spies covering every corner of Indonesia. With this Indonesian organisation at their side, the Japanese rooted out all organised opposition within a year.

In the film Indonesian, Japanese and (Indo) Dutch veterans and eyewitnesses tell the story from their point of view in such a manner that the audience can sympathise with all three sides of the conflict. This results in a peculiar sensation that one can understand the opposite sides in a fundamental struggle. Confusing as this may be, it will deepen the sensibilities for la condition humaine.

In the film also the story of a tiny revolt of Indonesian troops against their Japanese masters in Blitar, in February 1945. It was suppressed within a day, showing that Japan had absolute power in Indonesia till the very end of the war.

The film contains rare and very interesting archive footage from Indonesian, Dutch and American origin, including pro-Japanese and anti-Japanese propaganda films. Unique is the finding of the so-called Hollandia Papers: a document of Japanese origin, depicting the disclosure of all underground activities on Java. The Kempeitai knew everything…

Backgrounds

How come this story of the defeated resistance movement in Indonesia is hardly known? There is a wide range of explanations for this. The film tries to sketch the circumstances and hardships in Indonesia during the Japanese occupation. And let’s be fair: apart from the miseries of the Japanese internment camps where the Dutch were held captive during the war, we know little about life outside these camps.

The film zooms in on the position of a special group of people. As three nations were fighting each other, the Japanese, the Dutch and the Indonesians, a fourth group was desperately trying to take a stand, but they were crushed between the wheels of history and cast aside as an unwanted race: the Eurasians.

Also called Caucasians, Indo people, half-caste, ‘Indisch’, or Indo-Dutch.

These Indo people are of mixed descent: mainly Dutch fathers and Indonesian mothers. An unplanned offshoot of Dutch colonialism, which had a delicate and difficult position in pre-war colonial society ruled by a specific and harsh racist hierarchy: The whiter one’s skin, the better one’s options. And although the Indo people varied in colour from dark brown to white and blonde, most of them considered themselves to be Dutch – not Indonesian.

It is a sensitive point, up to this day. The Eurasians like to think of white Dutch and Indo-Dutch together on the one hand and all Indonesians on the other. But they are treated in fact a group in between and probably distrusted by both the whites and the Indonesians. Around 1940 in the Dutch East Indies some 100.000 Dutchmen, helped by 200.000 Indo-Dutch people, ruled over 60 million Indonesians. This background is essential to understand the impact of the upcoming events.

So when the Imperial Japanese forces engulfed South East Asia and conquered the Dutch East Indies, the Indo people chose the side of the Europeans. But the Japanese initially considered them to be Asian, according to their slogan ‘Asia for the Asians’. The Japanese elaborated on the colonial racist rules, they more or less turned the hierarchy upside down. All whites were soon removed from public life and put in internment camps. And the Indo people were invited to join the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, led by Imperial Japan. But the Japanese underestimated the pro-Dutch sentiments of the Indo’s.

So. The white Dutch were unable to deploy any resistance activities since they were imprisoned – under ever increasing harsh rules and cruelty. But most Indo- Dutch were walking about free. They had the motive and the opportunity to set up underground resistance movements. So they did. With disastrous results.

One of the great mysteries of the colonial times is the complete misunderstanding of the (Indo-) Dutch society about the loyalties of the Indonesian population. The Dutch were convinced that the so-called ‘Inlanders’ would naturally choose the side of their white masters. It is hard to imagine the vast disappointment and the devastating impact on the morale of the (Indo-) Dutchmen when they found out that they were defeated not only military, but also mentally and morally.

The Japanese took no half measures as to show who was in charge from now on. Strict rules were implemented and the slightest offenses were met by the death penalty, often by beheading. This unknown rigidity diminished most rebellious tendencies immediately. The people who nevertheless took up the fight were mainly soldiers from the defeated Royal Dutch Indian Army (KNIL) who could escape from imprisonment. The majority of them was Indo or Moluccan. But apart from the military rooted underground organisations, civilian Indo’s and Chinese were involved in anti Japanese actions, aided by individual Indonesians as exception. There were hardly any organised Indonesian groups active.

If one wants to set up an underground movement, one needs the help of the population. One needs shelter, hiding places, food, military and medical supplies. Not only in an active sense (people doing something), but also passive help, in the sense of being silent, keeping secrets, not telling the enemy. But in the beginning of the Japanese occupation, the sympathy of the population was with the new rulers.

The underground resistance organisations faced many powerful enemies. The Japanese Kempeitai was well organised, determined, ruthless and disciplined. The Indonesian police PID was well informed and quite happy with the change of command. They chased the enemies of Japan diligently and passionately. And successfully. And the Indonesian population (60 million pair of eyes) was eager to help the Japanese. Helped by clear discrimination of racial characteristics it was easy to point out possible insurgents. And moreover, Indonesia was totally isolated. Not the slightest help from allied forces reached the underground organisations. The very few attempts either failed or were betrayed by locals.

What did not help either was the internal weakness of the resistance groups themselves. Ill prepared, ill equipped, ill trained, ill informed. The only thing good were their intentions, but it was mere boy scout adventurism. And this kind of amateurism did not get a second chance with the Japanese professionals as opponents. No way that these men, women and children could learn from their mistakes and give it another try. The slightest mistake or misfortune was fatal.

So what about guerrilla warfare? Isn’t the jungle the best possible hiding place for small military units? Huge forests in mountainous area’s that provide shelter and opportunity for hit and run actions? No. Without food, military and medical supplies, provided by the local population, the jungle is a lonely and unforgiven place. Almost all guerrilla fighters were killed in action, tracked down, captured, betrayed, starved to death or they had to surrender – and often faced execution.

Guerrilla warfare or underground resistance, it was a hopeless struggle. Within a year, everyone involved was either killed, executed or imprisoned and pining away in prisons and camps under horrifying and ghastly circumstances. One could say that the Japanese gained a clear cut victory. It was a complete knock out. By mid 1943 the game was over.

As the war prolonged, the Indonesian archipelago was spared the devastation of actual battles, but it had to face other hardships. Japan forced a war economy on the land and drained the islands of all their resources. Millions of men had to work as slaves for the defence of the Japanese empire, and two hundred thousand women and girls were forced to work in Japanese army brothels (Indonesian, Indo and European women alike), all food and goods were robbed to maintain the war efforts, resulting in hopeless poverty and the starvation of up to two million civilians. Eyewitnesses have described the unimaginable situation that life inside the internment camps was to be preferred to that outside, because they had at least this tiny bit of food – as where outside the camps there was nothing to eat at all.

In these circumstances, the Japanese swiftly lost the sympathy and support of the Indonesians. Void of any means to oppose the Japanese occupation, the Indonesians could not do anything. There was one exception however: in the town of Blitar, East Java, a small army unit of Indonesian auxiliary troops organised a tiny revolt. It was struck down immediately, but it made a deep impression on the Japanese leadership.

The conclusion of the story of the Indo resistance is that it never had a chance. And that it has remained an unknown story, is because most of the participants did not survive the war. Those few who did survive, were not heard after the war. For who wants to hear a story of a lost struggle, when the war was over and the enemy was defeated? And moreover, the Japanese military was ordered to destroy all documents and evidence of all their activities in Indonesia. Hardly any material has been found by the allied troops. So there is no story to tell.

One secret has been found however. A deaf-mute keeper of a small temple directed Dutch troops to a remote sea swamp area near Batavia, right after the surrender of Japan. Here they uncovered the remnants of many hundreds bodies of people executed secretly by the Japanese Kempeitai. The location of this tidal swamp made it clear that the Japanese did not want these bodies to be found. And due to the natural influences of the salty water, it was impossible to make a proper estimation of the number of victims buried in the mud. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people found their resting place at Ancol. Nowadays it is a field of honour, with many hundreds of white crucifixes and tombstones, row by row, on a green lawn, protected from the tide of the sea by a genuine Dutch dyke.

Resistance in the Dutch Indies a film about a lost struggle a film by - Peter Hoogendijk camera - Paul Enkelaar editor - Harm Jan Snijder music - the [law-rah] collective Narrator Dutch - Francis Broekhuijsen Narrator English - Andrew Kerr - www.dammasfilms.nl - © 2010 – 83 minutes – 16:9

list of interviewees: Dick van Logchem – Indo resistance - Leerdam, Holland Ferry Holtkamp – Indo resistance - Amsterdam, Holland Aoki Masafumi – Kempeitai veteran - Tokyo, Japan Ton van Essel – KNIL veteran and POW - Davos, Switzerland Sakari Ono – Japanese and Indonesian veteran - Batu. Indonesia Piet de Kock – guerrilla fighter - The Hague, Holland Sogi Hadi Sasmito – PETA veteran - Blitar, Indonesia Pak Sukiarno – PETA veteran - Blitar, Indonesia Juke Radjab Ranggasoli – daughter of PID officer - Jakarta, Indonesia Netty Soerjowidjojo – daughter of PID officer - Jakarta, Indonesia Kaori Maekawa – military historian - Tokyo, Japan Peter Steenmeyer – OGS Jakarta - Jakarta, Indonesia